Greenwood: would like more consistency from England

Ashton isn't asking Cipriani to be England's saviour he's asking him to be England's spark behind a team that has just failed.

Will Greenwood
Quotes of the week

Will Greenwood told the Rugby Club that Brian Ashton was right to drop Jonny Wilkinson - but he shouldn't have been the only change.

Following the 15-9 defeat to Scotland, theEngland coach was under pressure to wield the axe, which he duly did by dropping Wilkinson for this weekend's final Six Nations match, against Ireland.

With England wallowing in fourth place in the table, a win is a must for under-fire Ashton to save face and Greenwood told the Rugby Club his job as England coach is "100 per cent on the line".

So Ashton has played his hand, bringing in Danny Cipriani, whom he had controversially dropped for the Scotland match, in place of England's all-time record points scorer.

And Greenwood, who last week on the Rugby Club backed the decision to drop Cipriani, believes that it was the right move due to Wilkinson's poor form, especially during England's dismal Calcutta Cup showing.

Consistency

"Talking about consistency, that has been the most disappointing thing for me about this campaign," he said. "I thought they were strong in France and they just didn't back it up against Scotland.

"Five or six changes should've been made for me. Jonny was one of those changes that you would've had to make.

"It has been made an issue now that he's the only change. There should've been more."

Greenwood now hopes that Cipriani is given the opportunity to play as he does for his club side, but warns fans that the 20-year-old should not be seen as a player who can single-handedly turn things around for England.

"Ashton isn't asking Cipriani to be England's saviour he's asking him to be England's spark behind a team that has just failed," he said.

"Now what we're going to see is Cipriani coming in and hopefully being told to play how he's been playing for Wasps.

"I.e. go stand flat, go play, go and express yourself and let's see if you can get the best of the players around you."

Obsessive

Wilkinson told the Rugby Club that he doesn't believe that players should be picked on form, but Dewi Morris disagreed with the Newcastle man.

"Jonny's an obsessive person but I didn't quite understand what he was on about," he said. "If you're out of form you're out of the side.

"At the start of the Six Nations Cipriani would have been the 10 for me as Jonny wasn't playing well.

"Brian has got himself into this mess because after the World Cup he wasn't true to his word."